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tv   Starting Point  CNN  September 20, 2012 4:00am-6:00am PDT

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case to latino voters, tries to undo the damage from his 47% controversy. listen. >> this is a campaign about the 100%. and over the last several years, you've seen greater and greater divisiveness in this country. we had hoped to come back together, but instead you've seen us pull apart and politics has driven us apart in some respects. so my campaign -- >> is backtracking enough to get his campaign back on track? a packed showed for you this morning. elijah cummings is our guest, howard schultz will join us, pastor joel osteen will join us live as well. it's thursday, september 20th, and "starting point" begins right now. morning, welcome, everybody. our starting point this morning, it was a terrorist act. brand-new details about that attack in benghazi that claimed the lives of the u.s. ambassador to libya, christopher stevens, and three other americans.
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the nation's counterterrorism chief is telling congress that armed extreme iists saw an opportunity to attack during an protest over an anti-muslim film and took that opportunity. >> i would say, yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our country. >> sources tell cnn that ambassador stevens expressed concerns in security in the months before he died. he also acknowledged being on an al qaeda hit list. senator john mccain was practically seething last night when you talked to anderson on "a.c. 360". >> does it make any sense to you the level of -- or the small level of security he apparently had with him? >> it doesn't make any sense. and i'll tell you what else doesn't make any sense is the white house spokesman, secretary of state, and our ambassador to the u.n. stating categorically that it was not a terrorist attack, when obviously it had all the earmarks of a terrorist attack, including
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rocket-propelled grenades and heavy weapons and a very well-carried out military operations. >> libyan military officials tell cnn that they met with members of the u.s. consulate three days before ambassador stevens and those three other americans were killed and they warned them about the rising threat against western interests. our other big story this morning is the justice department finding no criminal behavior in the botched gun running operation fast and furious. the inspector general, michael horowitz, did single out 14 employees at the justice department and the bureau of alcohol, a tobacco, and firearms for poor judgment and bad management. two of them are already gone. one, a key deputy to attorney general eric holder. as for holder, the report says he was pretty much left out of the loop. crime and justice correspondent joe johns is live in washington, d.c., for us this morning. hey, joe, good morning. >> good morning, soledad. there's going to be a congressional hearing today to talk about that report from the justice department's inspector general. it said just a variety of things. i think this inspector general's
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report read operation fast and furious and related matters revealed a series of misguided strategies, tactics, errors in judgment, management failures that permeated atf headquarters in the phoenix field division, and at the headquarters of the department of justice, referring 14 people for possible disciplinary action. it did not recommend anyone for criminal prosecution. almost within the hour of the report released, two of the highest ranking individuals named in the report were out. former atf director kenneth nelson and deputy assistant attorney general jason winestein. this report also found no evidence that attorney general eric holder knew about a lot of the facts in operation fast and furious prior to january 2011. of course, that was important, because eric holder, as you know, soledad, was actually found in contempt of congress for not giving up certain information about this to the people who were investigating.
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i asked republican congressman jason chaveffetz, among others,f this meant holder was exonerated. chaffetz essentially said, no, this was his organization, holder's organization, he should take some personal responsibility. so the upshot of this, soledad, as you know, if washington, d.c. is, look, it was politics before it got started. there's still an element of politics in it, and that politics is probably going to continue, on both sides, for a while. >> so let me ask you a question then, on that front. we also know in new report that they look back to the similar program under a different name, which was significantly smaller, under the bush administration. one way to, i think, remove the politics from it would be to investigate everything, under any administration, right? is that happening? >> well, they're really talking mostly about operation fast and furious, quite frankly. and again and again and again, we hear on capitol hill, this discussion of whether the justice department handed over sufficient information for
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congress to be able to do its job. and there's a continuing question raised in this report about whether there were a bunch of red flags, all over the place, particularly in applications for wiretaps that were asked for in opation fast and furious, that should have sort of set off alarms in the justice department, and people know that they needed to send information up a decline, ask questions, and none of that was done. the inspector general's report says, soledad. >> all right. we're looking forward to that congressional hearing today. joe johns for us, appreciate it. in a few minutes, we'll be chatting with congressman elijah cummings, a ranking member on the oversight committee to talk about that report and the congressional testimony today. but first, let's get to john berman with a look at today's top stories. >> good morni, great to see. battleground florida is where mitt romney will be again today. yesterday romney was trying to court latino voters at a univision forum in miami, where he was asked about his comments
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dismissing 47% of the electorate. >> this is a campaign about the 100%. and over the last several years, you've seen greater and greater divisiveness in this country. we had hoped to come back together, but instead you've seen us pull apart. and politics has driven us apart in some respects. so my campaign is about the 100% in america. >> the 100% a new line for mitt romney. he says the republican party is the natural home for hispanic americans. president obama today will take on the same meet-the-candidate univision event as romney. that's in miami. it will be streamed live on facebook at 1:00 p.m. eastern. the president then heads to tampa for a fund-raiser before head back to the white house. prosecutors in colorado hoping to add ten new criminal counts against shooting suspect james holmes in court today. holmes is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 during a packed midnight showing of "the dark knight rises" back in july. the judge is also said to consider whether a diary holmes sent to his psychiatrist just before the shooting can be used as evidence. the space shuttle
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"endeavour" is on its final journey atop a modified 747. today "endeavour" flies from houston's ellington field to edwards air force base in california. this will include a flyover of tucson in arizona, this to honor former congresswoman gabby giffords. giffords' husband, astronaut mark kelly, was the commander on "endeavour's" final mission. the retired shuttle ends trip in los angeles, where it will go on display at the california science center. you will not see this picture ever again, by the way, of a shuttle on top a 747 like that, at least, we think. beginning next week, new york city subway riders will see ads saying, "defeat jihad" in ten subway stations. officials initially refused to display these ads, but their decision was overruled when a judge ruled the "defeat jihad" sign is protected under the fist amendment. so you will be seeing them. >> that's interesting. but there's a lot of stuff on
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the subways, so maybe it will just be ignored. attorney general eric holder has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the botched gun running investigation called fast and furious, but a new report does call for disciplinary action for 14 officials in the justice department and the atf. elijah cummings the ranking member on the house oversight committee. thank you for talking with us. >> good to be with you. >> so we know that one of the 14 has been reassigned -- one resigned, one retired, and several were reassigned. what should happen to the rest, these 14 people who have really been named in this report? >> well, the attorney general already referred all of them to the office of professional responsibility and doj. but keep in mind, soledad, when this first came up, when he first learned of these tactics, the attorney general immediately did some shuffling around and moved people around, because he wanted, first of all, to be fair
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to them. and when he ordered the ig report, which we just got, now that he's gotten it, of course, you just mentioned winestein and nelson, who's head of atf, but gone. now the others have been referred to the, you know, the office of professional responsibility. so they're going to make their determination, look into this, and i'm sure make recommendations to the attorney general. but, again, he acted on this and keep in mind, this was a report that was issued at his request. in other words, he asked for the investigation. >> right. and the report says this, specifically, about the attorney general. we determined that attorney general holder did not learn about operation fast and furious until late january or early february 2011 wubz not aware of the allegations of gun walking in the investigation until february. we found no evidence that the department or atf informed the attorney general about operation wide receiver or operation fast and furious prior to 2011.
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that's very critical, but republicans would say, it's not really a vindication of the attorney general, even if it reads like one, because it's an indication that he lacked leadership. i mean, ultimately, it was the attorney general who had oversight of that program, that ended up in the death of brian terry. >> well, i think the attorney general has said over and over again that this was a botched and irresponsible operation. he made that very clear. but keep in mind what the report also said. this was a bottom-up operation, not a top-down. in other words, the phoenix office of the atf and the arizona u.s. attorney's office, the report says, were responsible for this. and -- >> right, but somebody leads those, right? >> somebody leads those. >> the report points out, and let me read -- >> no doubt about it. but i think eric holder makes it ear he takes responsibility for this as head, but at the same time, it's kind of hard to take full responsibility of something that you haven't even
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been provided information with regard to. keep in mind that the head of atf, mr. nelson, who's now gone, never -- he claimed that he didn't even know about it. >> okay, but the report itself, though -- let me interrupt you for one second, sir. the report itself said this. "we reviewed wiretap allegations in both operation wide receiver, operation fast and furious, and concluded that the affidavits in both case included information that would have caused a prosecutor who was focused on the question of investigative tactics, particularly one who was already sensitive to the issue of gun walking, to have questions about atf's conduct of the investigations." in other words, they're saying, there are all these red flags, and if anybody who was reading these wiretap affidavits, which we know the attorney general has said he read in 2011, that they should have known. that's kind of the paragraph that says, he should have known. >> the fact is, i was there at the briefing yesterday, and what the investigator said was that it had been the custom of folks
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who should have read, actually the affidavits with regard to these wiretap operations, it had been the custom for them to merely read a summary. and unfortunately, just reading the summary, they didn't get all of the information. sure, there were a lot of things that went wrong here, but clearly, there was -- they concluded that there was no -- everybody here acted in good faith. maybe some bad judgment, some mismanagement on the lower levels, but clearly, no -- the report concluded that there was no effort to mislead congress. >> a lot of the conversation we've been having, since we started talking about this, has been how much of this is politically motivated. how much is this playing politics? and we now know that the report is critical of both operation wide receiver, which happened turned bush administration, and operation fast and furious, which happened under the obama administration. is there any intention to
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investigate operation wide receiver? significantly smaller operation. is that going to happen? >> well, we've been pushing -- the democrats have been pushing for us to look at that operation wide receiver, which, of course, was under the bush administration, but we have not done that, and that's partly because i don't think the chairman was that interested in wide receiver, again. and i think a lot of this is political. and i've said it all along. but the fact is that we -- i keep -- i want to go back to the fact that, unfortunately, we had a border patrol agent who was killed. and our aim was to look at this entire situation, to try to figure out why it happened, and make sure it does not happen again. and i think this report goes a long ways towards resolving a lot of issues and showing us what needs to be done. so, hopefully, we will now move to reform. we need to do that. i think that we have looked at it. i think the ig has looked at it
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very carefully, and i applaud the ig. i think they've done a very thorough job, reviewing over 100,000 documents. interviewing 130 witnesses. and so now we must move on. but keep in mind that from the very beginning, some very strong and unfortunate allegations were made against attorney general holder, saying that he approved it and authorized these tactics. >> later this morning, we'll talk to congressman gowdy about some of those comments -- >> and come to find out, he didn't even know about it. so i think that now we need to get to reform. we've got the information, let's move forward. >> congressman elijah cummings joining us this morning. nice to see you, sir. thank you for your time. >> good to see you. still ahead this morning on "starting point," this is information you'll hear only on cnn about how worried ambassador chris stevens was about security in libya right before he was killed. and take a look at this. have you seen this video?
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watch this. they move. seconds later, a car comes in, knocks a police cruiser right in front of a couple of people. we'll tell you how one officer jumped into action to really save some lives. that story's ahead. we'll be back in a moment. [ male announcer ] did you know, all those screens are sucking moisture from your eyes, causing irritation and dryness. really? [ male announcer ] revive your eyes with visine®. only visine® has hydroblend to soothe, restore and protect eyes for up to 10 hours of comfort. aaaahhh... [ male announcer ] visine® with hydroblend. [ laughing ] [ laughing ] [ laughing ] [ laughing ]
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welcome back to "starting point" i'm christine romans. world markets are falling after a weak manufacturing report from china showing china's factories slowed for an 11th month in a row. mutual fund managers say the stock market rally is over. 58% of fund managers surveyed by bank of america, merrill lynch in september, say stocks are the most overvalued investments in the world. that's up from 51% in a survey in august. 6 million americans will pay penalties under obama's health care law for not having health insurance. that's 2 million more than previous estimates. that's according to a new report from the congressional budget office and the joint committee
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on taxation. of course, those fines and penalties, soledad, begin in the year 2014, and start at $285 per family. new details to tell you about on that attack in benghazi that killed four americans, including the u.s. ambassador to libya, christopher stevens. it was an act of terrorism, according to the nation's counterterrorism chief. matthew olsen told congress that heavily armed extremists saw an opportunity to attack during protests over an anti-muslim film and they took it. sources also tell cnn that ambassador stevens expressed concerns in security in the months before he died, specifically mentioning a growing al qaeda presence in libya. he also acknowledged being on an al qaeda hit list. arwa damon is in tripoli and has more on that for us. hey, arwa, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, soledad. and as for that act of terrorism, the u.s. saying it most certainly was, but which group is fact responsible for it? that is what both the u.s. and the libyans are trying to figure
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out at this stage. but more than a week after this attack took place, the libyan government is saying that they don't know specifically which, if any group, was behind it, saying that they've questioned at least 50 individuals who were present at the initial demonstration, but none of who they say are directly linked to this attack. bearing in mind, though, that this horrific incident was not isolated. there have been a series of attacks against western interests in benghazi, in the previous. you had an attack against the convoy of the british ambassador. the head of the u.n. a mission, a accomplished attack onicrc. c itself was attacked in june. all of this contributing to that sense that according to a source close to the ambassadors thinking, was leading him to express concerns about never-ending security threats. and also as you mentioned just there, that he was potentially on an al qaeda hit list. so there was this growing sense of awareness, not just within the ambassador's thinking, but
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also in general, about this ongoing rise of threats coming from these extremist militias, a threat that the libyan government itself has acknowledged it was unable to control it. the libyans, of course, saying that they warned the americans about growing threat against them. >> arwhat damon, thank you for that update. and still ahead, a mother fights back against her kid's accused bully, literally. that's them having a brawl right there. now she's in big trouble. and our "starting point" team is walking in. margaret hoover and deepak chopra joining us this morning. a short break and we're back in a moment. lamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping's easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. no. come on. how about... a handshake.
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welcome back to "starting point." a look at some of your top story this morning. formats and topics now revealed for the first presidential debate. the first of three debates is october 3rd. it will be 90 minutes long divided into six 15-minute segments. the moderator, jim layer of pbs says the first three minutes will focus on the economy, the other will deal with health care and governing. a danish gossip magazine has featured a 16-page spread featuring kate middleton sunbathing topless in the south of france. earlier,ing a french court barred publication of those photos. the british royal family wants to sue us, we'll deal with it, says the editor. ant 20 people who got stuck on an amusement park ride are back on solid ground this morning and probably very happy about it. there was some kind of problem with the wind seeker ride that left these folk stranded 300 feet in the air for nearly four hours. four hours, sitting there. >> you know, i would think
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that's one of those, like, both bring me down now, and also, but don't rush it so that anything bad happens fast. >> probably a safe bet. >> that would be very terrifying. i was once stuck in an elevator that fell below the basement and it took a long time to get out, when i was in college, and it was really terrifying, because you really within the sure -- you know, you wanted them to do it fast, but also, be careful with the cable so we don't all die. that was kind of our -- >> how many other people were in with you? >> it was overcrowded, so it was like 30 people. it was like a college party. it was bad on so many -- a lot of drinking. it was college. drinking in the elevator. >> it was a college party. yes, there was drinking in the elevator. not by me, of course. i was just there to observe. anyway, our panel this morning, margaret hoover, is with us. former white house appointee in the bush administration. nice to have you. we both got the memo about the green. i like that.
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richard sock ree tooes is with us as well. and deepak chopra is the author of "god" and thanks for joining us. normally if a mother thinks her child is being bullied at school, you have options, you can call the school or their parents. but this is not what happened. this woman, felicia phillips got into an actual, physical fight, like, look at it. right here, caught on tape. a 17-year-old boy, bus stop yesterday. the fight then continues on to the bus. the two of them are wrestling. phillips says, listen, she was going to confront the bully who was harassing her son, and her son said he thought it was great that his mom stuck up for him. listen. >> words kept going back and forth, whatever, he called me out my name, and i smooshed him in his face or whatever. i love kids. i don't love a disrespectful child and that's what he is. >> i feel great about it, because i know a lot of people wish they had a mom that would have their back. some parents, when you tell them, they just ignore it. >> so the mom has been charged
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with child abuse and she also, the 17-year-old was the allegedlied buly eiey eied bull trespassing on school property for bringing the fight on to the bus. once, many years ago, i had a little friend who was a sixth grader when i was probably in high school or a little older, and these kids were mercilessly teasing the kid and we went on to the school bus, and i didn't have a fistfight with this little child, but can you see a mother's frustration in being bullied? >> playground justice from a 12th grader to a sixth grader is one thing, but i feel like we see so many stories about bullying, but we also see so many stories about bad parenting. clearly you don't take justice to a school bus and beat up kids. i know i'm not the expert here. i know, you, deepak chopra, have actually -- you're actually on lady gaga's commission for anti-bullying, is my understanding. so you're quite, you know, into this. >> what do you do? obviously, going on a bus and trying to pound a 17-year-old kid if you're a grown woman is wrong.
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but i have to tell you, i understand the frustration of feeling like your kid has been mercilessly tortured by somebody, and what are you going to do about it? >> well, first of all, all kids reflect the consciousness of their parents. the bullies, as well as the one who's being bullied. we need a national education campaign that says that bullies have poor self-esteem and they come from dysfunctional families. and you have to address that, that bullying is a lack of courage, really, and when you say, you educate people about this and create a national campaign, then something may happen. that's exactly what we're doing at lady gaga's foundation. it's obviously inappropriate for that woman to take action. >> and illegal, apparently, because she's getting sued. >> but at the same time, incidents like this bring to our awareness that there have to be bigger solutions than these isolated incidents.
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>> pounding a kid for pounding your kid is obviously never a good solution. ahead this morning, we're going to be talking to starbucks ceo, howard schultz. we'll talk about the economy, how to create jobs, and also starbucks has this new invention we'll tell you about. and an incredible video. a police officer saves a woman's life after a speeding vehicle knocks his cruiser full force. you're watching "starting point." we're back in just a moment. even coarse, stubborn facial hair gently. plenty of gain, without all that pain... with olay. mom: ready t♪ go to work?n... ♪ ♪ ♪ every mom needs a little helper.
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welcome back to "starting point," everybody. let's get right to john berman. he's got a look at the day's top stories. >> new information this morning about the attack in benghazi that killed four americans, including the u.s. ambassador to libya, christopher stevens. the nation's counterterrorism chief tells congress that heavily armed extremists saw an opportunity to attack during protests over an anti-muslim film. >> i would say, yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy.
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>> sources tell cnn ambassador stevens expressed concerns about security in the months before he died, specifically mentioning a rise in islamic extremism and a growing al qaeda presence in libya. he also acknowledged being on an al qaeda hit list. a riot at a california state prison in sacramento also known as new fulsome prison has left 13 inmates in the hospital. it started yesterday in an exercise yard for maximum security inmates. suffer inmates suffered stab and slash wounds and one prisoner was shot by a guard. it took prison staff about ten minutes, that actually doesn't seem very long, to get things under control. in our house call this morning, an experimental pill showing promise for treating multiple sclerosis. in two studies, researchers say the drug reduced the relapse rate by about half in patients with the most common form of ms. if approved, bg-12 will become the third oral drug for people with multiple sclerosis. and this, check the refrigerator before you leave the house.
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kroger's supermarkets recalling packages of fresh spinach in 15 states because they may be contaminated by listeria. the tender spinach has a use-by date of september 16th. all right, everyone, come to your television and check out this video. a woman in texas, she owes her life to a lubbock, police officer. dash cam video shows him pushing her out of the way, just as a van slams into that police cruiser and sends it flying. the officer and the woman, they suffered minor injuries. apparently the guy driving the van was cited for dui. it's amazing to look at, isn't it? >> it's shocking. i don't fully understand what happened. something hit that cruiser and that cruiser flew into, and we're seeing it because it was captured on the dash cam, so they must have stopped the woman -- >> after an accident, and another man comes flying by -- >> there was a study that said that the lights of a police cruiser actually attract drunk drivers and things like that, that's why it's so dangerous,
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that drivers who are drinking tend to swerve towards those lights. it's dangerous. lucky to be alive. sometimes that's a cliche, but sometimes not. we want to bring in the ceo of starbucks, howard schultz. you've got a big announcement. and every time you come in we talk about jobs and the economy and politics. let's start with the unemployment numbers and the economy. last time we spoke, unemployment was 8.2%. now it's down, 8.1% over the last, whatever number of months it was since we've spoke, they've added 301,000 jobs to the economy. do you feel good about that number? do you feel as a ceo, like, wow, now we're on the right track? >> no, i don't. i think when you have 14 million people in america unemployed, a large percentage of those people are african-american and hispanic, you've got a real problem. and i think what we've tried to do at starbucks over the last year is create our own jobs
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initiative around the fact that the engine for job creation in america is small businesses. the fact is that small businesses, despite what the banks have been saying, are not getting access to credit. as a result of that, we created our own program to provide small business with access to low-interest loans. we've raised a fair amount of money, we've created jobs. >> how much? >> we've- about 15 million, but there's a 7x multiplyner that, so it's almost $100 million. but the fact is that with government focused more on the election than they are about the people in america and such acrimony between the two parties -- >> you think? really? i haven't noticed over the last few months. >> and no sign whatsoever that's going to change despite who wins the election, the problem that we have is that we've got to get people back to work in america. >> why are voters optimistic? if you look at a new poll that came out, it says, in registered voters, 42% feel the economy's
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going to get better over next 12 months. 18% say worse. 32% say, stay the same. i was wondering what was fueling that optimism. >> we're an optimistic country, right? and there's optimism at starbucks, right? that's a good sign of the economy. >> i think it is a good sign, but i think as you look at calendar 2013 and beyond, with the problems in europe and the underpinning of the u.s. km economy, the optimism perplexes me, as does the stock market. i don't know why the stock market is where it is when you have so many people out of work and so many problems in the economy. >> talk to me about your new barissimo. >> we're introducing a fantastic single cup brewer today. >> where you pop it in and make your own coffee. >> the key to this machine, for this first time, it will make a perfect latte with real milk. for $199, you can have a
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fantastic single cup machine in your home. >> this is a market that's already heavily taken. the keurig, everybody has that. sara lee has a chunk of that. >> the market is an $8 billion category growing at 133% a year, and three out of four people who go to starbucks every day do not own one, because they've been waiting for starbucks to come out with its own machine. >> hold wiit, hold it, hold it. a lot of us just like going to starbucks. i'm not going to buy this, because i like going to starbucks. >> well, i think the fact is, we've been selling coffee to people's home for 40 years. >> i do have starbucks coffee in my house. >> one other initiative, talking politics, and washington state on the ballot this november is a same-sex initiative ballot. and starbucks has bn very vocally behind it. how do you think it's going to go? >> i think it passes. i think it passes because the humanity of america is at stake and i think america will do the right thing.
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>> are you planning to run for office? >> no. >> really? >> i have no plans to run for office. >> sounds like hillary clinton. >> that's another story. no. i'm happy with the job i have. >> right, at this moment. everybody always says, i'm very happy with the job -- it's very rare that you sit down with a ceo and they talk a lot about their business, but they also have a lot of plans for in politics and for jobs, but with the political sort of edge to it. i find that unusual. >> but i think for anyone running a public company today, the rules of engagement have changed. we think the wait for government to solve our problems. and businesses and business leaders need to do more. people view that as a political agenda, but we're just trying to do the right thing, both for the employees we serve and the communities we serve. that's all. >> do you think we need a new index on the financial market, that says just capital 100. identify 100 companies that are making a difference, like you are, but we need to -- >> it's an interesting idea. i don't know if we need a new
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index. i would question the indexes we have that need to be refined with the kind of companies that reflect the economy, and as you said, the optimism of america. >> nice to have you. thanks for being with us. appreciate it. and if you want to send us one of those barisimo, we drink a lot of coffees here. >> have you seen all the new studies on coffee reducing cancer. >> green coffee extracts -- >> as well as the liver -- >> as well as weight loss. and we have that new product called refreshers that is green coffee extract base. >> send it all. we'll try it out and tell you what we think. still ahead this morning on "starting point," he is one of the most watched inspirational figures in this country. pastor joel osteen is with us. he's got a new book, 31 declarations that he says will change your life and much more. you're watching "starting point." nice to have you with us. when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes.
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joel osteen is one of the most recognizable faces of christianity in america today, from his television sermons, which reach millions across the country, to his podcasts, to his best-selling books, he's trying to bring his ministry to homes around the world. he's got a new book out called "i declare: 31 promises to speak over your life." and joel osteen joins me this morning. we were just debating whether speaking affirmations out loud really makes a difference. this book is 31 affirmations, to match every day for the month. >> that's right. soledad, i believe it does, of course. i think how you start the day many times determines what kind of day you're going to have. a lot of people get out of bed
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and they think, i don't want to go to work, i don't feel good -- >> who told you we were thinking -- >> it just draws in the negativity. but if you can get up and speak something positive over life, lord, you know, god, thank you for your favor today. i declare your blessings. i declare your faith. i declare wisdom. it's just getting your mind going in the right direction. i don't think there's anything magic about, but those words go out and comes right back in and affects your own self-image. >> do you agree with that? that affirmations can actually make a change in your life? >> i start my day by asking myself three questions? who am i? what do i want? and what's my purpose? and then i do some of the things you do. because i've believed forever that there's no mental event that doesn't have a brain representation. that every thought actually generates molecules. and we know that. and these are molecules you've heard about. endorphins, opiates, oxytocin, dopamines, serotonin, they're
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an antidepressant molecules. >> which i totally follow you on that. affirmation for day ten, "i believe that god will accelerate mil my plan for his life. it will not take years to overcome an obstacle, to get out of debt. god is doing things faster than before. he will give me victory sooner than i think. he has blessings that will thrust me years ago ahead, this is my declaration." when i get to the debt part, i'm like, really? you get up and do your affirmations, and that means really you're going to get out of debt faster. >> that's just the opposite of getting up and saying, nothing good ever happens to me. i'm single, i've been single for 20 years, joel, i'm never going to get married now. you've got to change your thinking. when you start the day off like this, it's activating -- it's activating faith, it activates god's power in your life. the way i believe is that faith
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is what causes god to work. so when you're simply believing that, hey, god, i believe you got the right person out there for me. i believe that i will get the right breaks, that i won't be in debt all my life. it's a frame of mind. >> and on a very simple level, it changes your perception. you start looking for opportunities, it changes your behavior, your speech, your social intersections, your personal relationships are all dependent on what you're saying to yourself. that internal dialogue influences everything that happens outside. >> it's the power of positive thinking. >> even more. >> how do you, what marks for u an exceptional sermon. your delivery is what makes people watch you. how do you deliver an exceptional sermon? >> well, for me, it's something i'm going to say that's going to empower people. i try to talk to people like i would want them to talk to me. i also think about how -- you know, i talk to a lot of people
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during the week and they're going through struggles and things like that. what can i do to lift their spirits? i believe there's enough pushing people down already. so when people leave one of our services or read one of my books, i want them to leave saying, i can be better and rise higher. it's trying to speak to people one on one. i was raised and my father was a great minister, he didn't speak down people, but in the old days, was went to church to know what you were doing wrong. you left there thinking, i'm so guilty, i can't do right, but it's just the opposite. i want people to leave thinking, i can be a better father, i can be a better employer, i can accomplish my dreams. it's speaking to the seeds of greatness that god's placed in all of us. >> when you came on piers morgan's show a while ago, he asked you about homosexuality, and every time we have a pastor on, it's a conversation we have. and you're known for these uplifting services and talk to a lot, it's like 45,000 people who attend. and i always wonder when you say homosexuality is a sin and
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there's a bunch of people who clearly are gay who are in your church, you're calling them sinners. i mean, that is the opposite of uplifting, i would think. >> well, soledad, i don't necessarily focus that. i only talk about that in the interviews. the other thing, christianity, categorize sin. pride is a sin. being critical is a sin. being negativecy cis a sin. >> you say we're all sinners? >> we are all sinners. >> so sexuality is not so bad, right? >> it's not -- >> nobody is god's best. >> we're all growing. >> don't you think, though, with the country struggling with increasing acceptance of all its citizens and you're for basic fairness for everybody that in situations where we're trying to pass these marriage equality bills in certain state that is you have an important voice to lend to that, especially to kids who are maybe worried about who they are and where they fit in the community?
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>> well, you know, i think i have an important voice but i think i've been good -- i think part of my, if you want to call it success, i've stayed in my lane and my lane is lifting people's spirits and there are issues that good, bible-believing people see on both sides of the fence. >> you would say to gay young people that, you know, do what you feel is comfortable, yes? >> i would say do what i feel like the scripture says. i don't think being -- >> there's a big debate about what scripture says. >> there is, there is. >> that's good. >> but when you say -- you would say the scripture says h movement -- homosexuality is a sin. >> exactly. >> i go to church regularly but i'm not so strong on the bible. you have sto walk me through this. and some pastors disagree and say jesus didn't weigh in on homosexuality. when you're talking to 45,000 people in your service and some
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of them are gay, you're saying you're a sinner. >> in my services i don't cover all these issues that we talk about here. >> but you make it clear that you think that homosexuality is a sin. >> when i read the scripture, that's what i believe, that the scripture condemns it or says it's a sin. it also says, you know, lying it and being prideful is. >> so you shouldn't lie. but for people who are gay, you're saying so you shouldn't be gay? that's what -- >> they can't choose not to be gay. >> you have to work out your own salvation. >> do you think you choose to be gay or not gay? do you think you choose to be straight? >> i know i've not chosen to be straight. that's who i am. >> how could i choose to be gay? >> one question at a time. >> i'm sorry. i'm trying to be respectful. i'm a big admirer of your work. i think you're trying to lift people up. >> i am. and i don't understand all those issues and so, you know, i try to stick on the issues that i do understand. i know this. i'm for everybody. i'm not for pushing people down.
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obviously i watched the story on bullying and things like that, that come from it. i don't know where the fine line is. i do try to stay in my lane and lift people's spirits. >> i'm going to try some of these affirmations. i don't believe it. i don't believe it works. i really don't. >> i do do affirmation. >> we have to take a break. >> you have spiritual evidence here and spiritual evidence here. >> i won't give it 31 days, but i'll do seven. >> it will change your life. >> the book is called "i declare," 31 affirmations to speak over your life. when i was a child, i was 8 years old and fell from the roof of a house under construction. the point is that it seemed to take a very long time. i seemed to have lots of clear thought. so that got me very interested, because we're trying to figure out how time is represented in the brain. and this is a critical piece of
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>> what u.s. ambassador chris stevens said about threats against him weeks before the attack in benghazi attack. and fast and furious blame game. blistering report points fingers at dozens of officials for the botched operation. we'll talk to a congressman who will grill the man behind the report today. starting point is back in a moment. stay with us. are the same. they. that's why i tell my patients about the new pro-health clinical brush from oral-b. unlike an ordinary toothbrush, it has pro-flex sides that individually adjust to teeth and gums. it truly provides a better clean. trust the brand more dentists and hygienists use. oral-b. the new pro-health clinical brush from oral-b. two flexing sides, one superior clean. with oral-b, life opens up when you do. two flexing sides, ari'm fine.y, babe?.
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morning. welcome, everybody. our "starting point" this morning, security threats against the ambassador. ambassador chris stevens had serious concerns before his death in libya. it was a terror attack, it's been determined. fast and furious fallout. 14 federal law enforcement officials have been named in a scathing report about that botched gun-running program. today, lawmakers will question the watchdog behind the report. we'll tell you why some say the attorney general not named with blame in the report, they think he's still to blame. the space shuttle "endeavour," look at that. live pictures coming to us from our affiliate, khou. almost home. look at these pictures as it makes its way, once again, down the runway. that's a shuttle on top of a 747, doing its tour. today, they're going to do fly
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byes of clear lake, johnson space center. and this is all before it makes its way to california. we'll continue to watch it as it takes off. and -- >> there it is, airborne. >> takeoff. it's such a beautiful picture. we've been showing this now every day as it does its last final journey, they're giving people around the country to have a glimpse of the shuttle. they take off and land and do these low fly byes so that people have an opportunity to get a final glimpse of "endeavour" but every single time i find it maying. >> it's good nasa pr. >> it's great nasa pr. what's the hash tag? see the shuttle or -- oh, #spottheshuttle. so when you do spot the shuttle it will be over houston and then do all these fly byes and a fuel
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stop. you can tweet #spottheshuttle. >> designed to carry the shuttles, the 747s will be retired, too, in days. >> i didn't realize they were specially designed to carry the shuttle. >> you have to be pretty strong to carry a space shuttle. >> i thought being a 747 inherently would do that. that comes from our affiliate, khou. let's get to our panelists this morning. margaret hoover, former white house appointee, richard socarides and deepak chopra. and john berman sticks around as well. many people talked about this right after the attack in benghazi that killed four americans, including the u.s. ambassador to liba christopher stevens. nation's counterterrorism chief says -- and testified before
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congress that yes, it was, in fact, an act of terror. that was conversation people were having in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. sources also tell cnn that the ambassador expressed concerns about security in the month before he died, a rise in islamic extremism and growing al qaeda presence in libya. arwa damon joins us from libya. if, in fact, it was terror, arwa, brought about by whom exactly, do they know? >> reporter: at this point in time, no, soledad, they don't. and it's been over a week since that attack, in fact, did take pla place. the libyan government saying they have questioned at least 50 individuals, none of whom they say were directly involved in that assault on the u.s. consulate. but they do believe that extremists were involved in this attack. what is especially concerning, though, is that at this point in time they do not possess the capabilities to specifically go after these particular organizations. this attack that took place was not an isolated incident.
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there had been numerous attacks against western interests in the months leading up to what happened on september 11th. you have the attack against the consulate itself in june. you then had attacks on the c convoy of the british ambassador and libyan officials are telling us they specifically expressed these concerns on numerous occasions to the americans, specifically citing facts that they could not control this threat, that there was a growing threat from extremists organizations. so people on the ground here well aware of what was taking place which, of course, is leading to even more questions at this point in time than answer answers, soledad. >> arwa damon for us this morning. thank you for that update. of course, the other big story we're following this morning, the report on the botched-gun-running operation, fast and furious. the man behind it will be on the hill today. it puts attorney general eric holder in the clear,
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recommending disciplinary action for 14 officials in the justice department and atf. on the house oversight committee, this morning that committee will hear testimony from the inspector general from the justice department. nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us. walk me through what you think comes out of this report. many are reading this and saying that the attorney general himself has been vindicated. do you believe, in fact, he has been vindicated? >> i guess that depends on your definition of vindicated. when you lead a law firm and people under you are being cited for malfeasance, i don't think that's a vindication. brian terry's family, for pushing congress to do something, darryl issa has taken a lot of heat over the last 20 months. i think what inspector general horowitz's report confirms is that this, for many of us, was never about politics but respect
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for the criminal justice system. i've not read 500 pages. i cannot do that in less than 24 hours. i've read enough to know that anyone who thinks the attorney general is vindicated would be tantamount to this. imagine this headline. passengers charged with speeding. driver exonerated. he he is the driver of the department of justice. >> i'm not sure that that's a fair analogy. >> why not? >> it might be more like -- >> why not? >> because i think the driver is the person who literally is driving the car, right? so who would be aware -- i understand the analogy you're trying to make, but the driver would know the speed they're going. in a way, according to the report which i have here, page 453, we determined that attorney general holder did not learn about operation fast and furious until late january or early february 2011. and the entire report does vindicate him. they name specifically 14 people. >> i respectfully disagree for this reason. there was a letter sent in february on department of justice letterhead that was
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demonstrably false, after he learned about it, a letter written in may 2011, which was demonstrably false. knew or should have known. ask the question of yourself, should he have known that this was going on in his department? >> so it sounds to me like you're saying the leadership issue, where you think he is at fault, he was leading the entire department and that's where your analogy about driving comes into play? people, of course, have said that they think this is politically motivated. we've had conversations with elijah cummings who said all along he thought this had a political motivation. of course, many people say why not examine not just fast and furious but the gun running that we also know from this report happened under the bush administration? wouldn't that make people believe that it's less about politics and more about trying to end something that clearly had devastating effects on brian
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ter terry's family and the man himself? >> and i am thrilled to go as far back as anyone wants to go. i am first and foremost a former prosecutor. even more so than a current member of congress. and i don't care whether the bull moose party, wick party or republican party or democrat party sanctioned gunwalking. it is wrong. i am thrilled to go as far back as mr. cummings or mr. issa or anyone else wants to go. you've been around long enough to know that when news is bad you want to change the conversation. for just today i want to focus on the ig report, the failure to properly read and analyze the wiretap applications. and this stunning conclusion, which the inspector general also reached. so if we're going to like part of what he said we're going to like the rest of what he said. this attorney general said even today if a border patrol agent were killed with a weapon from one of his investigations, he would not expect to be notified. would you expect to be notified? if you're the leader of a law
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enforcement agent, the leader of a law firm and someone has killed with a weapon from one of your investigations, would you not expect your subordinates to let you know that? i have consistently said i have no evidence that attorney general holder knew about gunwalking before you and i knew about it. the question then is, should he have known about it? is there a failure to supervise and lead within the department? and that is not a political question. i would ask the exact same question if jason chaffitz or one of my republican colleagues were the attorney general. this is bigger than politics. it's about respect for the department of justice, an entity i used to work for. >> so then let's talk about what happens next. we talked to congressman cummings. he said let's talk about reform. uh-uh have a report that's devastating for the 14. i believe you're right, there are indications that say it would be obvious there were red flags that anybody reading these affidavits would be aware of what was happening.
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so my question to you would be what happens next? how do you make sure that this doesn't happen again? isn't that ultimately the question? >> yes, ma'am. ultimately at the end of any investigation, you want to know how can we never have this conversation again? the ig gives us a really good road map. he was very clear that even a summer intern reading these wiretap notifications would know about gunwalking. for the government to listen in on your phone conversations or tap your phone is a very serious matter. we expect people to do their job, read the applications and read the affidavits. so if nothing else comes of this other than the department of justice being put on notice, we expect you to read wiretap applications with the seriousness with which it warrants, that i think there will be some success. >> really? wait a minute. wait a minute. let me stop you there. with all the effort and all the money spent and all the -- the takeaway is pay much more attention when there's a wiretap, you would be satisfied with that? >> well, i wasn't through. i wasn't through. there are others.
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he also said there was a failure to connect the dots. brewer specifically was singled out for that. that failure to connect the dots is because federal law enforcement agencies don't communicate with one another. in fact, often times they're in competition with one another. this should be an indictment, if you'll pardon that expression, on agencies being so caught up in who gets the credit that they fail to communicate with one another. that's another takeaway. the third takeaway is this. whoever the next attorney general is, eric holder for another four years or who or whoever -- >> me. >> -- they need to know this. the department of justice is not just another political entity. it is something that republicans and democrats and independents and everyone else needs to have confidence in. we should not have had to have an ig report. we, frankly, should not have had to have a congressional investigation. miss o'brien, go back to the date those letters were written
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to the justice of department from us. are those letters accurate? if we would have stopped when we got those letters and said okay, would we have had the full truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? we would not have. >> attorney general called for the report. >> i hate to correct you, but chuck grassley called for the ig report before the attorney general did. >> and he also did. >> oh, he did. i'm not saying he didn't. but at a certain point, we're calling him four committees of congress. if you're a cynic you could also argue that the way not to answer our questions is to call for an ig report and say i want to wait until that report is concluded. i never have said the attorney general knew about this. i've never said he was complicit in gunwalking. my point is if you're going to be the leader of the nation's law enforcement agency and department of justice, you need to make it your business to have your subordinates tell you everything, whether it's good or bad, and he didn't do that. >> on those points, the report
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agrees with you. appreciate it. >> yes, ma'am. >> the report on fast and furious provides little comfort for the family of that slain u.s. border patrol agent, brian terry, ankled in the shootout back in 2010 linked to the gun-running operation. on "early start" this morning, his cousin called the justice department's findings and the attorney general's comments disappointing. >> nobody should be doing a victory dance right now. anything less than a sober reflection of the mistakes made in the negligence by many officials within the department of justice and atf, anything less than that is a disservice to brian's sacrifice. >> heyer says his family can't find closure until someone is held accountable for proving that fast and furious program. for other stories making news this morning, john berman has that for us this morning. >> thank you so much, soledad. campaign through florida with a rally in sarasota. romney spoke to latino voters at
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a rally in univision forum in miami. he is trying to get past the comment of the 47%. >> this is a campaign about the 100%. over the last several years you've seen greater and greater divisiveness in this country. you've seen us pull apart and politics have driven us apart in some respects. my campaign is about the 100% of america. >> romney said the republican party is the natural home for hispanic americans. president obama will take on the same meet the candidate univision event in miami today, the president then heads to tampa for a fund-raiser before returning back at the white house. some teachers may be out of the job next year. chicago schools are facing a projected $1 billion deficit. that deficit has caused dozens of schools to shut their doors and put teachers out of work.
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he's the boss and he'll crowd surf if he wants to. bruce spring teen who, by the way, turns 63 in three days. this was at a concert in metlife stadium last night in new jersey. kind of like that fwie in new jersey. leapt into the sea of hands, iphones taking pictures. this was all during a performance of the song "hungry heart" if you're bruce springste springsteen, you can pretty much do what you want to, even at 63. >> hanging on to the mike, directing the crowd. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future.
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s. welcome back to "starting point." the attack on the consulate in benghazi was a terror attack. four americans died, including the u.s. ambassador to libya, christopher stevens. now the state department is warning u.s. citizens to avoid nonessential travel to pakistan.
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all this week, cnn is going in-depth to explore issues facing the presidential election. elise labott is joining us with more. >> president obama has evolved over the past four years of his presidency, originally travelled to cairo to try to bridge the gap between the u.s. and muslim world saying he wanted a relationship based on mutual respect. in 2011 we saw these uprisings across the middle east and north africa, calling it an historical opportunity, pledging to stand with those seeking democracy. here is how he said he envisioned u.s. involvement. >> after decades of accepting the wormd as it is in the region, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be. >> now so what does that mean president obama did? he increased investment to the region to try to spur economic
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growth for countries in transition. and he was involved in select military intervention, choosing to get involved in libya, for instance, but not syria. he was cautious with some allies about balancing democracy. he was a bit muted in his response to those protests and he thinks each of these countries has to choose its own course. the u.s. can impose outcomes but governor romney has accused the president of being too differential to the arab world, not sticking up enough for u.s. values and interests. in the wake on that attack in the u.s. consulate in bya, he has accused the president of weak leadership in the region and said he should have done more to shape the outcome of the arab spring. let's take a listen to what he said last week. >> american leadership is necessary to ensure that events in the region don't spin out of control. we cannot hesitate to use our influence in the region to
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support those who share our values and our interests. >> so what would mitt romney do if he were president? he said he would have gotten involved in libya much quicker, with more u.s. manpower and he would have actually picked winners in some of these elections, who says values reflect the u.s., probably would not be backing islamists, but supporting candidates and making sure that they win that -- and make aid to arab countries mo more -- tough questions that both candidates will have to answer. becoming more central. >> when you look at those polling numbers, people are much more interested than they were even three or four months ago. elise labott, thank you. appreciate that. still ahead "starting point," a school bans bible activities where faith and football have gone together for years. up the ante.
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you don't believe hard enough. a smarter way to shop around. now that's progressive. call or click today. [ grunting ] welcome back to starting point. christine romance, watching your money this morning. signaling a lower open to wall street. world markets are falling after a weak manufacturing numbers in china. payroll association says more than two-thirds of americans are living paycheck to paycheck. 68% said it would be somewhat
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difficult or very difficult if their paychecks were delayed from one week. that figure is down from 2010, immediately following the recession. fewer people have terrible credit scores. that's true. nearly 1.5 million fewer people have the lowest fico credit scores compared to last year. fewer people are taking on new debt, others are ditching credit all together since the financial crisis and more people are in the very top ranks, soledad. more people in the very top 800 to 850 category than just than last couple of years. >> interesting. >> is that a good thing? >> paying down debt. >> good thing for the economy? >> i think you see -- it's interesting. you see a divide just like everything in the economy. more people at the very, very top and a big gap until the people at the very very bottom. >> in economic terms isn't it bad when you pay down debt? isn't it a positive economic sign to be buying, buying, buying? >> no, pay down your debt. >> no, no, i'm not -- >> soledad, good god! >> i'm not talking personal
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advice. >> psychology that she's -- psychology that has created a society where you spend money that we haven't earned to buy things that we don't need to impress people that we don't like. that's the crisis right now. >> that's totally not what i'm saying. deepak chopra just said i'm a bad person. >> this is the hip noesz of our social conditioning, that that's good for the economy. it's not. in the long term, it's not. >> but in the measure of -- i think intellectually, right. in the measure of the economy, people should go spend. >> they shouldn't spend money they haven't earned. >> two-thirds of economic growth is consumer spending, right? that's what got us to the brink. >> i get that. >> we have to restructure, rebalance the economy so it's investments, other things, not just consumer spending on borrowed money to buy goods. >> we measure spending.
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high consumer spending is a good measurement for the economy. me personally, i'm all about paying down debt. just for the record. also i believe in affirmations now. stop tweeting me. >> now she's singing a new tune. >> i'm getting killed on twitter about that today. it's like you seem so happy. how do you dare not believe in affirmations? tiny town in texas is now the center of a battle over separation of church and state. cheerleaders for -- i don't know if i'm saying it right. kuntsie high school in kuntsie, texas. i can do all things through christ which strengthens me. god gives us victory. someone filed a complaint and higher ups decided they had to ban the bible verses. hair on my lip there. faith and bible both strong parts of the community. >> were they winning before they
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were praying? >> that's good. this is the woman in charge of the money. >> oh, lord. >> that panner right there said i could do all things through christ. what if there are members of the team who aren't christians, don't believe in kreest. >> they didn't want to have that conversation. they didn't think it belonged in a school-sponsored event. >> who is doing the sponsoring? the the football team and the school can't have the banner. prpts watching the game are happy to have religious banners crescent, stars of david. the issue is it's an establishment clause issue from the first amendment, that the school itself can't be promoting a piarticular religion. >> i agree. what matters in the end, of course, is who wins. >> wow! i'm surprised. no, it's the spirituality of the people coming together. >> now if the team tried some of your new affiaffirmations in th morning. >> which i'm doing every day.
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>> they will win. >> i believe we can win this game. despite high employment, looming fiscal cliff, president clinton says there's reason to be optimistic. we'll take a look this morning at the five ideas he says are changing the world. that's ahead on starting point. ahhhh drill sound chirping electric shaver shaking remote tapping sound shaking drill chirping tapping shaking remote wouldn't it be great to have one less battery to worry about? car honking irping the 2012 sonata hybrid. the only hybrid with a lifetime hybrid battery warranty. from hyundai. challenge that with new olay facial hair removal duo. even coarse, stubborn facial hair gently. plenty of gain, without all that pain... with olay.
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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." the labor department just released the weekly jobless claims. >> these are the numbers we follow so closely. 382,000 jobless claims filed, more than expected but down some 3,000 from the previous week. this is so important, because it keeps showing us whether those unemployment lines are getting a
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little bit shorter. something under 400,000 is good to see. down 3,000 from the prior week but a little more than economists had expected. >> it's good to see the optimism numbers about the economy when something like that wouldn't make you run out and say, wow, i'm wild optimistic. >> why is the stock market doing so well? >> when you talk to fund managers they say it's over valued. central banks around the world have been pushing money into the system to prop things up. the u.s. is growing. we're not in a recession here. the u.s. is growing. but there's some who think that maybe that stock market rally has run out. election around the corner and fiscal cliff. don't forget. >> 100 some odd days. >> 102 days and they did a study that found uncertainty about the fiscal cliff and certain things are adding to the unemployment. they look to washington and say forget it. >> uncertainty is always bad.
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i know so little about economics. >> how can they there be any creativity? >> for creativity, good. banking, bad. brand new details on the attack in benghazi that killed four americans, including the u.s. ambassador to libya, christopher stevens, telling congress heavily armed extremists saw an opportunity to attack during those protests over an anti-muslim film and they took that opportunity. >> i would say, yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy. >> sources tell cnn ambassador stevens expressed concerns about security in the months before he died, specifically mentioning a rise in islam extremism and al qaeda presence in liba. he also talked about being on an al qaeda hit list. about 80% of those who will
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be penalized for not buying insurance are in the middle class. average penalty is about $1,200, according to this analysis. all right. check out this tornado of fire caught on camera. filmmaker spotted 100 so-called fire devil in the central australian desert. this is a filmmaker, which is why it looks so good. swarming column of warm air touches a brush fire, producing what looks like a tornado of flame. >> that's the audio of that. that's what's crazy about those. >> i want to talk about this. this is on a lot of our minds this morning. robin roberts is set to have a bone marrow transplant this morning, undergoing chemotherapy in preparation for today's procedure. she thanked her fans in a blog post saying you give me courage to keep going. r robin is fighting a blood disorder called myelodysplastic syndrome which she developed following treatment for breast cancer. she is one of the brightest,
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sunniest people i know. all of our thoughts are with her. >> absolutely. we are praying and rooting for her. >> everybody loves her for those reasons, right? >> she's just grt. >> president clinton has a new "time" magazine cover story. if you're a former president you want to do a cover story, they give you the cover. touting why he's optimistic and you should be, too. that's his message. we'll take a look at the five reasons he said everything is on the bright side. crest pro-health clinical rinse. it actually keeps your teeth 91% clean of plaque even at 2 months after a dental visit. new crest pro-health clinical rinse. without freshly-made pasta. you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffer's. starts with ground beef, unions, and peppers baked in a ketchup glaze with savory gravy and mashed russet potatoes.
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took to the campaign trail
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in support of president obama, talking to crowds in florida. this week he is pending the cover story for "time" magazine, the kaies for optimism. five ideas that are changing the world. international editor for "time" is joining us. if you were a former president, you call "time" magazine say i have an idea and i would like it to be on the cover? is that how it works? >> it's not quite that easy. he has to pitch the idea and we have to like the idea. this is in conjunction with the clinton global initiative, the noew york meeting, annual meetig is happening, starting this weekend. he had this great idea where we in the news and in politics focus so much on the negative that he said, you know, i think that the overall arc of human history is for the better. and, actually, even in these pessimistic times, there's a couple of thing that is i think that the world needs to know about that are actually improving. >> are real indications for a case for optimism. let's run through some of those
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things. >> yeah, sure. >> he says five things. phones mean freedom. healthy communities prosper. green energy means good business. women rule and the fight for the future is now. i want to talk about first women rule. moderator's prerogative, i guess. he points to ruwanda where 50% of the parliament is now populated by women. that's an indication for him th there's been a tremendous growth in the role of women, at least in rwanda. >> i think in many places. opportunities are increasing for women worldwide, social justice opportunities are increasing. there are also hard statistics that more women are teaching in institutions of higher learning. and also with reason we use the subhead of women rule, there are more women in parliaments and governments worldwide than any time in history. something like 20% worldwide. rwanda is just one example of a
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global trend. so, you know, even in places like saudi arabia, which have septemb centuries long issues with women's suppression, slowly, but surely -- we're not anywhere near where we in the with west think those countries should be but driving is becoming more acceptable. >> there are changes? >> there are change. >> unequivocal data that the best way to improve the world is the empowerment of women, especially the economic empowerment of women. >> when there are more women in the higher offices of business and government there's actually less corruption. >> and more fairness. >> hmm. margaret, let's get together and talk about that after the show, shall we? talk about the sisterhood. let's talk about another issue, which he says by not wiring communities, you allow -- and everybody has cell phones, you actually allow these communities to swrump over what has been historically a hurdle, wiring an entire community, expensive, challenging.
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cell phones change that. >> he takes head on the division of a digital divide or this idea that there will be info haves and have-nots. just a cheap, simple web phone that can send sms, has been the device that has more single handed lifted people out of poverty than any other perhaps in human history. >> i would think people who sit at this table would say -- there's also a case for pessimism. let's look at the global economy. not just here in the united states where there's a case for pessimism but in other countries aas well. there is violence in the middle east. there is a growing gap between the haves and have-nots. that's a growing case for pessimism. he kind of focuses on the positive part. is that, in some ways, spinning it too positively? >> he addresses in in the piece and says the world is so focused on the pessimistic aspects of the way some things are going that he's not saying -- although
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he does say that he's optimistic about the future overall. but he said even if you can't grant me that, i want to focus on some areas that are getting better because he believes it's a feedback loop. he believes that if you believe that the situation, despite what you see in the news reports about women worldwide or certain parts of the world are getting better and it's possible to affect change, you might be more optimistic about affecting change yourself. >> can i ask you, what do you think -- what is it about bill clinton that has allowed him to have this unique place in our culture, in our society today? he's like no other former president in history really. >> well, he has never really wanted to relinquish the spotlight. on some level, his ambitions for the clinton global initiative are truly global and historical. he has turned cgi, in just seven years, into one of the great
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sources of philanthropy and i think he with his also a younger president and i think he decided after eight years of being president that this was not his final act. it was just one act of a five-act life he was going to have. >> it will be interesting to see what becomes next for him as hillary clinton stays in the political spotlight, as she looks to 2016, what his role will be in all of that. as you said, he was a young president. jim frederick is the international editor of "time" magazine. they run fortune 500 companies with thousands of employees, manage mergers, trades. all women. 50 most powerful women in business will be revealed, up next. tune in to cnn today at noon eastern when we announce the top ten cnn heroes for 2012. then logon to cnnheroes.com to vote for the person who you think is the most inspiring. "starting point" is back in a moment. [ laughing ] [ laughing ]
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[ laughing ] [ laughing ] ♪
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and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well.
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new this morning, covering everything from business to wall street to needa. in charge of this list since it started 15 years ago, nice to have you with us. >> thank you, soledad. i'm editor at large. i just want to make sure. you gave me a promotion. thank you. >> congratulations! >> thank you. >> editor in chief. sorry about that. editor at large is what i meant to say. how do you do the math to calculate who is at the top of the list? >> four criteria. the size and importance of the woman's business in the global economy, the health and direction of the business, the arc of the woman's career, how quickly she's moved up, and her runway ahead and something we call social and cultural influence. traditionally put oprah very high on the list. >> oprah now has fallen on this
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list, though she is still on thely. we'll talk about that in a moment. i want to talk about the top five. ginni rometty, president and ceo of ibm. indra nooyi, chairman and ceo of pepsico, meg whitman, hewlett packard president and ceo. eyre reason rosenfeld of kraft foods. >> ginni rometty, ibm is doing very well, fifth company in the world in terms of stock market value. it was kind of a no brainer. two biggest tech companies in america are ibm and hewlett packard. we have meg whitman, the ceo of hewlett packard at number three on the list. and it was a pretty easy call because ibm is actually worth, in terms of stock market value, ten times what hp is worth.
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>> interesting. >> surprising. >> so you have a woman named phoebe novakovic, named the ceo in general dynamic. in her field it's really, really overwhelmingly male. >> honestly, we don't know everything about all these women. this is one of the questions we have. we have three women in defense on this list, which is amazing. two women from lockheed martin and phebe novakovic. our most powerful women's summit coming up, and we have a panel on this. some of these defense women are on a panel, asking how are you able to navigate in the ultimate male industry? >> she is mentioned as the coo of general dynamic. gisel ruiz?
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>> highest ranking member on the list, coo of walmart's u.s. business, a $265 billion business. a young woman. we have seven newcomers and two returnees on the list. she's the highest ranking newcomer. >> you've been doing this 15 years. what's the biggest change you've seen in women who you're now considering making the list? >> when whoa started in 1998, there were two fortune 500 ceos. now there are 13. pathetic, but what we have today that we didn't have 15 years ago is women running really big companies. the companies you mentioned, they're all household names. >> even still, with women serving on corporate boards, my understanding is that it will take 70 years to reach full parody for women serving on corporate boards as men, if we go at the current rate we're going on. >> not if everyone reads belle
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clinton's article. >> that's right. >> at the current rate of leveling things out. >> 16% of fortune 500 board competition is faux male. i actually believe it may take longer than 70 years. >> so we're doing well in some areas, but not so well in other areas? >> that's right. there's this problem of being stuck in the teens. there's the glass ceiling. there's the leaky pipeline. and there is another problem, which is sort of you're not supposed to talk about. but women need to make more -- take more risks with their careers. >> and they'll be talking about the most powerful women's summit as i head to commercial break. >> important issue for women. >> it is. >> you could be my date at the most powerful women's summit. by the way, plus one. exactly. nice to see you, pattie. [ female announcer ] think coarse facial hair removal has to be painful?
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